1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a crystallographically-oriented ceramic. Specifically, the invention relates to a crystallographically-oriented ceramic used for a piezoelectric/electrostrictive material.
2. Description of the Related Art
To date, as ceramics used for piezoelectric/electrostrictive materials, for example, ceramics which contain Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 as a main component, in which the number ratio of crystalline bodies whose grain diameters in a width direction are larger than those in a thickness direction is 70% or more in a large number of crystalline bodies observed in an arbitrary section in the thickness direction, and which have excellent piezoelectric properties and electrostrictive properties have been proposed (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-185940). Furthermore, lead-based piezoelectric materials in which a crystal of (1-x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb1/3)O3-xPbTiO3 is oriented by adding 5 vol % or more of SrTiO3, BaTiO3, or the like so that strain properties are enhanced have been proposed (for example, refer to US Application Publication No. 2002/0193237).